Tribe Divided
A fanfiction by CrookedstarAmazing. This fanfictions includes blood and death and such, so read only if you're alright with that. I hope you enjoy; I tried to stick to the books. The NightWings have moved into the rainforest. Many are pleased with the promise of their new, fruit-filled, sunlit life. But others, such as the young NightWing Lethality, are haunted by past affairs centering around the RainWings . . . certain RainWings in particular . . . And he will not rest until every dragon who wronged him is destroyed. Chapter One “Real trees! Real sunshine! Mangoes everyday!” Ash collected in dark, dusty gray flakes on Lethality’s raven-black scales. The dragons around him were all whispering to each other, some excitedly, others doubtfully. He wanted to bite the black dragon next to him as she said under her breath, “Fresh fruit. Fresh water. Sunshine and good-smelling air all around!” Talons pushed against him, and he turned with a hiss to see a scrawny dragonet pushing his way through the crowd of NightWings. Lethality wanted to set the dragonet on fire. It was him. The “dragonet of destiny”. Pathetic, but he had somehow slipped away and alerted the whole rainforest that the NightWings were planning to attack. Him and that other prophecy option who always looked at him all moony-eyed, not that the dragonet had noticed. Worthless. Both of them. Should have been one of the other dragonets. Maybe Fierceteeth, she looks close to the right age. No one would question the prophecy, anyway. A dragon stepped on his talon, and he lashed out instinctively. Blood blossomed from the slash marks, and the dragon yelped in pain, but before he could locate his attacker, Lethality ducked between to dragonesses yammering about papayas. Who even wants fruit anyway? Disgusting, squishy stuff. I’d take a nice seagull any day, he told himself. The rainforest tunnel was nearing. A dark blue SeaWing, a big brown MudWing, the two NightWing prophecy dragonets, a stunted dragonet that didn’t look like the SandWings that were described in the scrolls that he read in school were waiting at the opening on the outer ledge. Another MudWing was going through the tunnel, and the NightWing dragonet of destiny was in conversation with another NightWing, who was whip-thin, with large, bloodshot eyes. Of course. Mastermind. Wasn’t he the runt’s father? Why couldn’t he make his stupid helmets more quickly? The SeaWing’s green eyes passed right over him as he muttered, “Queen Glory.” Will die beneath my claws, he added silently. She was more focused on the NightWing behind him. Lethality risked a quick glance before diving into the tunnel. Ah, Morrowseer. Hope he decapitates them. Especially those misfit NightWings. As he emerged into the moonlight, new scents washed over him. Mangoes, wet leaves, a dead fish in the nearby pond. The brightness was startling, even though it was night, and he blinked his dark black eyes several times before he adjusted. The NightWings around him were staring, awestruck, at the ripe clusters of fruit that weighed down the branches of the lush green trees, at the fat orange monkeys that had never missed a meal in their lives. Warm rain pattered down on the broad leaves and the thick, springy moss. RainWing guards were milling about, wielding blowguns. If they can even be called guards, Lethality thought scornfully. Most were camouflaged, but those he could see had vibrant pink and sunny yellow scales, and were difficult to take seriously as they struggled to twist their snouts into intimidating expressions. What a bunch of lazy mango-munchers. After a short time, the odd golden dragonet burst through the tunnel and slammed into a skinny NightWing. Lethality heard an angry sob and wondered what had gotten her upset. The RainWings gaped at her and exchanged bewildered looks. He was distracted by a voice shouting. "Everyone calm down!" It was the ridiculous RainWing who actually thought she was the queen of the NightWings now. Preposterous. An old, regal-looking RainWing beside her lifted her head and called out, "Listen! Your new queen is speaking!" Several NightWings, including Lethality, hissed and muttered, but the RainWings pretended not to hear, of course. She may wish. Just wait . . . He stormed away to the edge of the crowd, forcing himself through the dense undergrowth. A vine tangled around his talon, tripping him, and he snarled. The RainWing dragonet who thought she was the NightWing queen climbed up onto a boulder, flapping her wings in a very undignified way to get the attention of the surrounding dragons. She wore what she must have thought was a queenly expression on her snout and she spoke. "NightWings! Your home is gone. Your queen is dead. But this is your chance to start over. If you mess up, you'll lose this home, too." She pointed to the RainWings in the crowd, and those who were camouflaged shimmered into view. "You will treat these dragons with respect, and in return, because that's the kind of dragons they are, they will be much kinder to you than you deserve." Lethality snarled as the RainWing dragonet continued. She announced that they would be staying there tonight, and that they would each be assigned two RainWing guards. He bared his teeth at the nearest RainWing, who yelped with fright. A roar sounded from the crowd. Two deep red RainWings had seized Mastermind and were dragging him towards the boulder. "This one!" one of them snarled. "He can't stay here! He's the worst of them all!" "He's the one who did all the venom experiments on us!" announced the other. Her tail with lashing, and she hissed angrily. Oh, what punishment will she be giving Mastermind? Execute him? Imprison him? She'll obviously ignore the fact that Battlewinner probably would have killed him had he disobeyed. ''At the boulder, Mastermind was weakly apologizing. Lethality's head whipped up at a muffled-yet-thundering sound from the tunnel. "Look out! Stand clear!" roared a dragon by the tunnel. The second prophecy NightWing emerged first, looking startled and shaken. She turned and reached back towards the tunnel, extending her talons. "Starflight . . ." she murmured softly. Without warning, the SeaWing blundered out of the tunnel right after the NightWing. She stumbled, as if she had been shoved. She, too, turned back and stretched towards the tunnel, while bellowing for every dragon to get down. There was a commotion at the entrance of it as the MudWing appeared with something limp and black in his talons, draped partially over his shoulder. ''The great NightWing dragonet of destiny, ''Lethality realized with a snort. ''How heroic he looks now. The other NightWing dragonet tore a talonful of leaves off of a nearby bush and pressed them to the still dragonet's face. She pressed against him and whispered something that Lethality didn't catch. Not that it mattered. "Stand back!" the SeaWing roared, while the golden dragon called out the same thing that the other prophecy dragonet had. The dragonet of destiny's name, most likely. Lethality ignored the RainWing queen as she began to assign RainWings to the NightWings. The night wore on, and several of the dragons were falling asleep. The NightWing prophecy dragonet- Starlight, or whatever his name is- had been taken to the healers by the large MudWing, with the other possible NightWing dragonet of destiny trailing behind him. The SeaWing was helping the RainWing, and the golden dragonet who must have been the SandWing was nowhere to be seen. Another NightWing was with the RainWing. He was wiry and agile-looking. The ghost of a smile was etched upon his snout as he met eyes with the RainWing dragonet. Another NightWing stood close by, her black eyes moving from the NightWing the the RainWing with a wistfully disappointed expression. Standing close to the boulder with several other of rainforest dragons was a RainWing. The splashes of acid green in her scales were receding into a soft purple. Deathbringer. ''Lethality's mind began working quickly. ''All of them. That RainWing dragonet- Glory. Deathbringer. Greatness. And her . . . that other RainWing. Their former queen- one of them, at least. Splendor. ''Lethality back into the shade of a tall, broad tree. ''They all will pay for what they have done. It is all their fault. They have wronged me, and that will not stand. Justice will be served, and soon. My father would have wanted it. He would have wanted me to seek revenge. I will not question him. I will not let him down. Vengeance's death will not be forgotten. ''Lethality flared his wings and allowed the tree-cast shadows to swallow him. Chapter Two "Lethality, will you help us or not?" growled Deadlyclaws. Lethality hissed and turned his back on the older NightWing, who resumed his work with an annoyed huff. All around, black scales were flashing and bossy voices were drowning the shrieks and whistles of the birds. "Put it over there! ''Over there, ''I said, not-" "Hey, watch where your going!" "How much longer will this take?" "I really don't see why-" The NightWings were constructing a new village for them to stay in, away from the RainWings. Five or six of the rainforest dragons were supervising the NightWings, and their sleepy green gazes kept drifting to watch a bird make a nest or a jaguar climb from one branch to the next. Lethality snarled as a NightWing dragonet brushed against him. "Watch it!" he snarled, making the dragonet jump. Unlike the other members of the tribe, Lethality did ''not ''dote over the dragonets as if they were as precious as the finest gems. ''Clumsy little runts. '' He spread his wings and launched himself into the air. ''I have more important things to do than build a village for our tribe to stay in. Soon, we can drive the RainWings out and claim the whole rainforest. No dragon would dare invade. "Lethality? Where are you going?" Wingbeats sounded behind him, and a large black shape crashed into him, nearly knocking them both out of the air. Lethality turned on the other NightWing with a growl. "Spikehorns, you brainless idiot!" He shoved a small black tail off of his snout, and Spikehorns faltered, struggling to remain airborne. The younger NightWing was barely eight years old, and still acted like a dragonet sometimes. "What are you doing?" Lethality demanded, pushing him again. Spikehorns opened his jaws to object, but Lethality spoke over him. "Never mind that. Go fetch Fierceteeth, Strongwings. Preyhunter, Risktaker, and Triumph, as well. Tell them to meet me at the edges of the RainWing village. Go." Spikehorns hesitated briefly, then quickly flapped into the mass of NightWings. Lethality winged closer to the RainWing village. As always, it was raining, and small speckles of water were soaking his wings. He shook it off and determinedly kept flying until he could see the bright colors of RainWings, snoozing away in vine-woven hammocks. He found a clearing and perched atop a low branch of a short, stumpy tree at the clearing edge with thick limbs, broad enough to support a dragon, and waited for the other young dragons. Come on, Spikehorns. Brings the others. Hurry! ''He might not be able to work without dragons on his side, and he knew that his small group of supporters composed of Spikehorns, Fierceteeth, Strongwings, Preyhunter, Risktaker, and Triumph were loyal to him. A silver-furred sloth peered at him, clinging to a neighboring branch. He stared at it, and it yawned tiredly. He grabbed it in his claws and ate it in three bites. ''Oh, not supposed to eat the sloths, too ''bad. ''I hope it was a RainWing pet, ''he thought, shaking blood off of is talons. He plucked several of the thin, shiny strands of sloth fur out of his teeth before he gave up. "Lethality!" Spikehorns came barreling out of the trees behind him, and Lethality jumped. Spikehorns tilted his head arrogantly. "Did I scare you?" Lethality lunged, raking his claws across Spikehorns's snout. Spikehorns cried out and stepped back, blood oozing from the long claw scratches. "Watch what you say," warned Lethality. "I'm in charge here. Did you bring the others?" "Uh, sort of," muttered Spikehorns, patching up his snout with a strip of hanging moss. "I couldn't find Fierceteeth, Strongwings, or Preyhunter anywhere, but Risktaker and Triumph are here." He gestured with a claw at the two NightWings watching from between two trees. Lethality hissed. Fierceteeth was certainly a dragon he would like to have here now. Strongwings and Preyhunter were less valuable, but a loss all the same. At least Risktaker and Triumph had showed up. Risktaker would challenge what Lethality said occasionally, but he was strong and a capable fighter. Triumph was the cleverest of the whole group, and he could rely on her to remember small details. "All of you! Here! Now!" he barked. The three younger NightWings quickly surrounded the boulder, hissing as creepers and vines tripped them. "Why are we here?" called Risktaker, not bothering to speak quietly. "Keep your voice down!" Lethality growled. "I'm getting to that!" "Well, hurry," Risktaker muttered. "I- oh, never mind. The point is, we aren't going to stand for this! A ''RainWing ''calling herself our queen? We're ''NightWings, for moons' sake! Superior to all dragons! Do we take orders from lesser creatures such as RainWings?" "No!" the NightWings replied in unison. "That's why we need a plan. Is there anything you three have seen that we could use?" He turned to Triumph expectantly, and the six-year-old dragonet answered at once. "The supposed 'queen' lives in a tree house. It's mostly open, so it's bright and sunny on the inside. There's a wooden desk in the center. That's all I saw." "Saw when?" interjected Spikehorns. "Saw when I followed a RainWing to the tree house from the village. She was going to tell the queen, Glory, how the building was going. I flew up to the tree house and glimpsed it before I had to leave. How soon can we attack?" Triumph questioned, flexing her talons as if she wished to dig them into a RainWing. "As soon as possible. Don't worry. We can do this," Lethality assured her, and she nodded her head eagerly. Good. She'll do what I say. Risktaker, too. There's no way a dragon like him will bow to a lazy RainWing. Spikehorns is too loyal to me to disobey. So I've got them all, if not Fierceteeth, Strongwings, and Preyhunter. "When?" demanded Risktaker, lashing his tail impatiently. "We could attack today. We could attack now!" "We will attack . . ." Lethality paused, considering. "We will attack tonight, just after dusk." Risktaker grunted in agreement, and Triumph inclined her head. Spikehorns was watching Lethality intently, as though unsure whether or not attacking so soon was a good idea. "But we need more dragons on our side. Speak to any NightWings who seem displeased with this place, or the queen. The more who fight alongside us, the better," Lethality declared. The NightWings agreed, and, satisfied, Lethality soared back to the village to find a place to sleep. His mind drifted back to the dragons he had seen the other night. Glory, Deathbringer, Greatness, Splendor . . . they will suffer. They will all suffer more than my father did when he was hit in the face by RainWing venom. More then he suffered when he burned to death in that lava. I will make them suffer . . . Chapter Three "You told them what?" demanded Lethality. He snarled, and a jet of flame shot out of his mouth, which Spikehorns ducked to avoid. "I told them that you'd tell them our plans before we attack tonight!" Spikehorns yelped, backing up. "I couldn't just say nothing!" Lethality lashed his tail. "I'm still working on our plan! I don't know if it will work yet!" This could ruin everything. I'll have to finish formulating my plot by dusk tonight. ''He forced himself not to slice his claws down Spikehorn's stupid face. "So how many did you get? Who did you get? Who didn't you get?" "About fifteen. The expected dragons. Sharptongue, Sturdytalons, Fightseeker. You know." "Sharptongue? She agreed to this? Did Risktaker ask her to?" Lethality couldn't imagine why the fiercely independent young NightWing would agree to anything that she knew he was behind. She was named for her biting sarcasm and her ability to make dragons she disliked, which was almost everyone she met, feel like the most worthless creature in Pyrrhia. The only dragon she'd ever trusted was Risktaker, and she always worked against Lethality, not alongside him. Spikehorns shrugged. "I don't know. Ask her. I don't think so, though. I think she hates the RainWings enough to follow you." "Hmm. Fightseeker, too?" Risktaker's brother was brutal and aggressive. ''I can make use of that. '' "Yeah. So, when do we attack?" ''More coming soon Characters (in order of mention) Fanon * Lethality * Spikehorns * Risktaker * Triumph Canon * Starflight * Fatespeaker * Fierceteeth * Tsunami * Clay * Sunny * Ochre * Mastermind * Queen Glory * Grandeur * Vengeance * Deadlyclaws * Strongwings * Preyhunter Category:Fanfictions Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon) Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)